If youve recently upgraded to a new imac or macbook pro, youre probably going to need an optical drive if you want to continue importing your movies and music to itunes, or just access the content on your discs. Does the mac mini have a cddvd drive in apple community. The best external dvd and cd drives are compact and lightweight, so they wont take much space in your bag but will be a great bonus for your 2in1 laptop or gaming pc how to choose the best external dvd drive. A hard disk analysis tool like disk inventory x will scan your macs hard disk and display which folders and files are using up the most space. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Use the cd or dvd drive from another computer with your mac. Actually, it is possible to boot mac from external drive or a hard drive, but there are a few specific requirements needed for your mac to become eligible for that process. Internal superdrive duallayer for apple mac mini owc. Apple and the incredible vanishing cd drive macworld. For smooth, hasslefree, fast, and secure transmission of your data, external cd dvd drive is the best solution for your mac.
How to give your 2012 or 2014 mac mini a performance boost. Also check how to play dvd disc on mac computer without drive. This mac external cd drive is designed for the owners of macbook pro with retina display, macbook air, imac starting from 2012, mac mini starting from 2009, mac pro starting from 20. If not, you can attempt to take it apart so you can get to the drive and figure out whats holding the disc in. Aug 21, 2018 you just got a new mac and havent figured out where to access your hard drive.
Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. If the mac dvd hard drive not working for you, there are many other dvd drives available at cheap price. How to upgrade the hard disc drive in your mac mini. Heres the cheapest 8gb mini pc thats actually usable. Whether youre at the office or on the road, you can play and burn both cds and dvds with the apple usb superdrive. External dvd drive is a great solution if you own a netbook or your pc has a broken builtin dvd drive. For your mac, lg brings an ultraslim dvd external drive. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. However, it always is best to buy from a trusted company with mac knowledge for the most troublefree experience. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. There are several options to eject a cd or dvd when the mac mini fails to boot, but most of them dont work if you do not have a mac keayboard at hand. You can then delete these space hogs to free up space.
Apr 12, 2017 the remote disc feature of your mac lets you use files stored on a cd or dvd hosted from another computer. One standard, not bluray will allow me to play and extract a standard audio cd. You can also share discs from the optical drive of another mac, or from a windows computer. How to give your 2012 or 2014 mac mini a performance boost by. May 09, 2019 the best external hard drives for mac in 2020. Nov 30, 2019 disk utility is free and included with every copy of the mac os. Best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc image credit. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. This kit contains everything you need to add a second hard drive to your 2011 mac mini.
The mac pro is unique, as you can actually put a second optical drive in it, but apple has vowed to release a new pro desktop in 20 and who knows what its design will be. Use this guide to completely replace your optical drive. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. In order to upgrade the hard drive, of the mac mini, i am going to remove the lid of the machine and then remove the internal frame holding various components including the superdrive so that i can gain access to the hard drive. Bootable optical media cd or dvd on macs equipped with apples super drive or a usb thumb drive formatted with a guid partition type and containing an os x installer or a usable operating system. Mac mini model a47 optical drive replacement ifixit. Press the left mouse key while you restart the mac or as alternative press f12 while the mac is restarted.
Aimed at multimedia professionals, the caldigit av pro 2 is a welldesigned, macformatted external drive that comes in ssd and spinning disk versions, and includes both a usb hub and thunderbolt. If your mac has a cd dvd drive built in, theres a very good chance that it can be. Mac mini 2018 and later mac mini late 2014 more mac compatibility less. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Im trying to determine whether i will need to remove the entire optical drive or not. The best thunderbolt 3 ssd and hard drives for your. Buy rinbers bottom hard disc drive flex cable for apple mac mini a47 server ssd hdd upgrade kit 8211500a 201120 with tools. While its still possible to create an exact copy a clone of any drive connected directly to your mac, changes to disk utility have created extra steps when you use disk utilitys restore function to clone your startup drive. But there are some simple methods to sort this problem. Sep, 2010 how to use mini or other nonstandard optical discs on your mac. Apple advises against booting from external storage containing a version of mac os x earlier than the one your mac shipped with.
Insert the bluray disc to the bd drive and then click the load disc button to have bluray movies uploaded to easefab losslesscopy. If your mac doesnt have a builtin optical drive and you need to use a cd or dvd, you can connect an external drive like the apple usb superdrive. For most reasons to erase, you should erase the disk, which also erases all volumes on that disk. Both still work more or less with my older mac pro vintage 2008. Jan 08, 2015 sometimes a disc can get stuck inside your beautiful mac. Gtechnology 1tb g drive mobile ssd rseries storage next gallery image. The remote disc feature of your mac lets you use files stored on a cd or dvd hosted from another computer.
Swap your imac, mac mini or macbook cddvd drive for a. In finder, you can find your hard drive by selecting go computer or press command. Mac mini cd drive not accepting any cddvd apple community. Note that you can buy any cd or dvd with maximum data storage capacity and then transfer your data from one computer to another.
In this article well run through the steps necessary to create a bootable installer of the mac operating system, whether its so you can install the latest version of the macos on multiple macs. Mac mini model a47 optical drive replacement ifixit repair. While it is possible to replace the hard drive on any mac not listed above, how difficult it is varies wildly with the model. And while the various cloning apps have a lot more features, if you dont have access to thirdparty apps, using disk utility will create a perfectly usable clone, although it may require a few more steps and lacks some nice features, such as automation and scheduling. You may use disk utility application to perform hard drive partitionrelated tasks on mac operating system, such as to format, repair, erase or create hard drive partitions and end up with an erased hard drive.
Linux os apple macrioddas external cd drive, usb 3. How to use mini or other nonstandard optical discs on your mac. The last apple mac to ship with an optical cd or dvd drive was a in macbook pro, originally released in june 2012, but on sale until october. Anyone who uses a mac computer knows that the included internal hard drive tends to fill up quickly. My mac mini does not have a drive for these, this works and solves the. You can connect this superdrive with your macbook pro with retina display, macbook air, imac, or mac mini with a single usb type a cable. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. If you want to make use of your mac s thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for macs. Jan 22, 2011 try to not damage or scratch your macits a lot more valuable than a disc.
Your plan is to play the bluray disk directly from the external bluray drive attached to the mini. This video also applies to the following mac minis. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between mac and pc, you need to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Youll never have to worry about lost cables with the apple usb superdrive. Shop for external hard drives for mac mini at best buy. You can also import dvd files, bd dvd iso files, ifo files or bluray dvd. It connects to your macbook pro with retina display, macbook air, imac, or mac mini with a single usb typea cable thats built into the superdrive. How to check a macs free hard drive space wondering if your mac has enough storage space for that massive download. Finding an audio decoder that can handle dtsma soundtracks on a mac is a real problem. Upgrade your mac mini to up to 8x more capacity and 92x faster speeds than with the apple factory drive. How to check a macs free hard drive space macworld.
Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. Just as theres still a need for home printers, there are still cases where you need a good ole optical drive for your mac mini. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. Make sure youve entered a name that you can easily recognize in the computer name field. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. Shop for external cd dvd drive for mac at best buy. Quit all other applications on the mac, especially those that may be trying to access the external drive e. Does anyone know if there is an emergency release mechanism anywhere. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. How to start up your mac from a bootable cddvd, usb thumb. Since there is no builtin disc drive in your mac, you can get an external dvd drive for dvd playback on mac. Nov, 2011 this video shows the process of how to replace the hard drive in a mac mini mid 2011 5,1. The following options work with a pc keayboard and mouse. How to open an external drive thats not showing on mac.
What to do if cd dvd drive on my mac keeps ejecting every cd dvd 1. Jan 02, 2020 best cd drives for mac mini imore 2020. How to give your 2012 or 2014 mac mini a performance boost by replacing the hard drive with an ssd. Most optical discs are a standard 12cm in diameter, are round, and besides some potential manufacturing incompatibilities with. So, even in 2019, there are still situations when you need an external optical drive. Laptop replacement parts free delivery possible on eligible purchases. I searched in the usual obvious places but was unable to find it. Click the sharing icon in the system preferences window. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Before starting any troubleshooting, i would recommend you to repair disk permissions as it solves hundreds of problems.
The best solution, especially for those using a portable mac, is an external hard drive. We think it offers creatives the perfect balance of speed, reliability, portability and price for both mac and pc users. During the style evolution, lgs optical drive has achieved a new status from slimmer to the slimmest. How to upgrade aluminum mac mini hard drives or ssds. If your mac has a cddvd drive built in, theres a very. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. How to make a bootable macos installer on an external drive. While you can connect an external cd dvd drive to your mac and boot from standard linux live cds and usbs, simply connecting a linux live usb drive created by standard tools like universal usb installer.
Get the best external hard drives for macs in 2020, and expand your mac s storage without paying a premium. When apple first started removing optical drives from its machines, it created an external drive. In theory, just about any hard drive or ssd that meets the minimum requirements should work in the mac mini. The best thunderbolt 3 ssd and hard drives for your macbook pro, macbook air, mac mini, or imac. Is it possible to upgrade the hard drive in the 2018 mac mini. Find the best external cd drives for mac based on what customers said. The best thunderbolt 3 ssd and hard drives for your macbook. The mac pro is designed to have its hard drive replaced. How to create bootable usb drives and sd cards for every operating system apples made it difficult to boot non mac os x operating systems off of usb drives. How are you going to get the videoaudio from the macmini to the tv and audio player. Right now, our top pick for best external hard drive is the western digital my passport 4tb, which is a mechanical hard drive. Click on the external drive that you are trying to recover files from. With the apple usb superdrive md564lla you will be able to watch movies on dvd, install software, create backup copies, and perform many other tasks.
Its perfect when you want to watch a dvd movie, install software, create backup discs, and more. Click the erase button or tab, then complete these fields. However, that doesnt mean that you cant get a cd or dvd drive to use with your mac. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. Soon after i put a cd or dvd in the drive, it spits it back out. With its 8x dvdr writing speed, you can quickly transfer data from your dvd or cd to your macbook or imac. My drive was working normal earlier today, then it went crazy. All the hardware needed to a second hard drive to your 2011 or 2012 mac mini. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc. Since apple drops dvd drive for new macbook proair, we pick 20182020 best external dvd drive for mac to read, rip and burn dvd discs.
The other bluray will not mount anything on the mini, neither a cd nor a dvd. Mac mini all models imac all models imac pro all models mac pro all models this means that the mac models you cant upgrade the hard drive in are. To share discs from a mac that has a builtin or external optical drive, use these steps. While apple has been phasing out cd dvd drives since the introduction of the macbook air in january 2008, the shift has been slow and gradual.
Nov 21, 2018 mac mini hard drive or ssd purchase options. If you think youll need an external drive mostly for bluray discs, most of them will also play dvds and cds but are not readablewritable. Optical drives went the way of the dodo bird a few years ago on mac computers due to most software, movies, and music all moving online, but sometimes you still need a good old fashioned cd drive. How to eject a cd on a mac mini with pc keyboard and mouse. Now you can with a kit from the great guys and gals at ifixit. Theres no separate power adapter, and it works whether your mac is plugged in or running on battery power. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. Enter a name for the disk or volume, such as macintosh hd.
Virtual cd rw imac dvd rom update apple combo drive update fwb cd rom toolkit remote update ligh. Replacing the logic board requires removal of the logic board along with most other components in your. Find the best external dvd drives for macs based on what customers said. On the mac that has an optical drive, choose system preferences from the apple menu. Aug 23, 2011 want to add a second hard drive to your mac mini.